June 10, 2025 • 15 mins
What happens when God asks a prophet to marry a prostitute? Hosea chapter 1 introduces us to one of Scripture's most shocking love stories – not as a fictional parable, but as a living illustration of divine love that refuses to quit.
The northern kingdom of Israel was spiraling into spiritual darkness around 755-715 BC. While the southern kingdom occasionally had good leadership, the northern tribes consistently rejected God despite His persistent warnings. Enter Hosea, a prophet commissioned with perhaps the most difficult personal assignment in biblical history: marry a prostitute named Gomer and have children with her as a living metaphor for God's relationship with unfaithful Israel.
Through this heartbreaking family drama, we witness the painful reality of betrayal alongside the stubborn persistence of divine love. The children's names – Jezreel ("God scatters"), Lo-Ruhamah ("not loved"), and Lo-Ammi ("not my people") – reflect God's judgment on Israel's unfaithfulness. Yet even amid these harsh pronouncements, God offers glimpses of astounding hope: "At the place where they were told 'you are not my people,' it will be said 'you are children of the living God.'"
This divine soap opera reveals profound truths about our own relationship with God. Like ancient Israel, we often stray from the One who loves us most. But the message of Hosea assures us that God's love isn't contingent on our performance. He pursues us relentlessly, not because we deserve it, but because it's who He is. As Jesus himself quoted from Hosea, "I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings." God desires relationship over religion – a timeless truth that still speaks powerfully today.
Join us as we continue exploring this remarkable prophetic book that reveals the scandalous, relentless, reckless love of God. Subscribe now to experience the Bible one chapter at a time and discover how these ancient words still speak to our wandering hearts today.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 0 (00:00):
Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Bible
Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, where it is
our goal to experience the Bibleone chapter at a time, and
today is Hosea, chapter 1.
Hosea, chapter 1.
And if I was to give this one atitle and the overall book of
Hosea a title, I would call itGod's Reckless Love, because it
(00:24):
is amazing to see what God'sWord is going to teach us about
the character of God and theoverall, just the way God loves
us and the way God has justreally put it on the line
because of how he cares for us.
It's a wonderful book of theBible to really see the heart of
God and just His reckless love.
We're going to get all that injust a moment.
(00:44):
So if you have your Bibles andwant to find it, open up with me
to Hosea, chapter one.
While you're doing that, asalways, of course, if you take
just a moment to like, share andsubscribe to the podcast, it
would really help us to get theword out there.
We are trying to create acommunity of people where we can
just go through God's Word onechapter at a time and just
continue to grow as we see God'slove through God's Word.
(01:08):
You can also go to the BibleBreakdown Discussion on Facebook
.
There's an amazing team ofpeople who are doing devotions
there every single day and, asalways, the more we dig the more
we find.
So, once again, if you haveyour Bibles, want to open up
with me to Hosea, chapter 1.
I want to give us a little bitof an overview beforehand on
what Hosea is really all about,because if we're not careful, we
(01:30):
will not really notice just howbeautiful this book is and how
it really kind of goes alongwith a lot of what goes on in
our world today.
And that is because you couldcall Hosea the soap opera of the
Old Testament, and what I meanby that is there's going to be a
lot of back and forth and a lotof almost scandalous kind of
(01:51):
stuff that happens, and it'sgoing to be a situation where
God is going to use thereal-life example of what Hosea
goes through to kind of show usa metaphor of what it looks like
between his relationship andthe relationship of Israel.
So let me give you somebackground information and then
we're going to dive into chapterone.
So, first of all, who wrote thebook of Hosea?
(02:13):
Well, a guy named Hosea did,and he was a prophet during the
time of the Old Testament,during the time of the kingdoms,
and we'll get into that in justa moment.
What we know about Hosea is hisdad's name was Beery and he
most likely was from maybe theprophet class of people who did
the prophesying school of theprophets and that sort of thing.
(02:35):
Ware is also very interesting,and that is, he was around
during a time of just spiritualdarkness for the northern
kingdom of Israel.
And so if you've ever readSamuel Kings Chronicles, that
time frame, you had a time whenyou had David, who is the king,
then you had Solomon, who isknown as one of the wisest men
(02:57):
to ever live.
But then, after Solomon, he hada son named Rehoboam, and
Rehoboam was not his father, hewas not a good king and because
of his bad leadership, thenation of Israel split into a
northern kingdom and a southernkingdom.
The northern kingdom, they werejust called Israel, and the
southern kingdom was calledJudah, and the northern kingdom
(03:18):
had ten tribes and the southernkingdom just had Judah and one
other tribe with them.
And the southern kingdom, theyhad some good kings and some bad
kings, but the northern kingdom, the one where Hosea lived,
they were pretty much all badall the time.
There were very few brightspots in the northern kingdom
and really the beginning ofHosea's ministry was under a guy
(03:40):
named Jeroboam, and he was areally bad one.
And so it's during this darktime where Hosea comes on the
scene and he is trying to showan example, through his life,
what this was like for God Now,to whom and when.
Once again, it was the northernkingdom of Israel, and it was
somewhere between 755 and 715 BC, so it's about 700 years before
(04:05):
Jesus.
And what is going on here isthis is, as Israel is getting
further and further into sin,God is continually trying to
call them back and call themback and through people like
Hosea, and he's telling them ifyou don't come back to me,
you're going to fall, becauseI'm the only one who can save
you.
And as the nation of Assyria isrising to power, god's trying
(04:26):
to warn them, but it doesn'twork, and so they eventually
fall in 722 BC.
And, as another kind of aside,hosea is the first of what's
called the minor prophets, andthe reason why they're called
the minor prophets is notbecause they were less important
than the major prophets, it'sjust they didn't have as much
writing 're called the minorprophets is not because they
were less important than themajor prophets.
It's just they didn't have asmuch writing.
(04:47):
So, like the major prophets arethe one you think about of
Isaiah, jeremiah, ezekiel andDaniel most likely is most
people's list is included thereas well.
So Hosea begins this list oflesser known prophets, and it's
only because of the amount ofwriting they did that they're
called minor.
And speaking of the majorprophets, the prophet Isaiah
(05:08):
would have been alive at thesame time as Hosea, but Isaiah
was in the southern kingdom, andso you kind of look at what's
going on, you can see that a lotof this stuff is happening
about the same time.
Now the overall big idea ofHosea is this book makes people
mad, and it's supposed to,because the overall idea is
(05:31):
God's people are spirituallyadulterous, but he remains
faithful.
Now I'm going to go ahead andtell you this because if you've
never read Hosea, it's going tobe so frustrating.
Hosea is told by God to marrythis prostitute named Gomer and
it doesn't go well and it justis just heartbreaking to see
(05:51):
what he is constantly having todo over and over again.
And that's where you see thatit is exactly what God is doing,
because how many of you haveever read the book of Judges and
just said, man, why can't thesepeople get it together?
They keep falling over and overagain.
Well, imagine from God's pointof view.
His people are falling over andover again, and that is what
(06:15):
we're going to see in this kindof living parable.
A couple of interesting thingsabout Hosea is it offers this
raw look at God's heart, but italso highlights God's covenant
faithfulness, even when we fall,and so it really shows just how
much God loves us, that evenwhen we fall, he comes back over
(06:36):
and over again.
Now let me give you a contextof what's going on in the rest
of the world, and then we'lldive in.
About this time, the AssyrianEmpire is rising to prominence
and they're eventually going toconquer the Northern Empire.
Now what's going to happen isAssyria is going to come to
power and then they're going tokind of be in charge for a while
.
But Babylon is going to berising to power as well, and
(06:58):
they're going to eventually takeover.
Now the rest of the story isthen the Persians take over
Babylon, the Greeks take overPersia, and then you have the
Romans, and so that's kind ofhow history is working in that
situation.
A couple more interesting factsabout Hosea is scholars believe
that this was actually aliteral event, that it wasn't
(07:18):
just a big parable, that Hoseareally did marry a prostitute
named Gomer.
The word return is one of themost repeated words in the
entire book and Jesus quotedfrom Hosea when he quoted Hosea
6-6 twice in the book of Matthew, showing its relevance in the
New Testament.
And I love the idea that,despite this very just, so
(07:43):
popper-esque kind of environmentthat's going on, and you're
going to hear this in the waythat God is talking to the
nation of Israel over and overagain, you're going to see how
it ends not with doom and gloom,but with the promise of healing
and renewal.
And so, if you're ready, we'regoing to jump into Hosea,
chapter one, we're going to readthis and we'll stop along the
way as necessary and just kindof give some context.
(08:05):
And this is going to be thebeginning where you're going to
hear this, and then it's goingto go from there.
So, if you're ready, you haveyour Bibles.
Hosea, chapter 1, verse 1, saysthis the Lord gave this message
to Hosea, son of Beeri, duringthe years, when Uzziah Jotham
Ahaz Now pause, now, first ofall, remember every time you see
(08:30):
capital L-O-R-D.
It's a respectful way forsaying Yahweh, and so it's
saying Yahweh, the king of kings, lord of lords, gave this
message to Hosea, and then whathe does is he is showing people
the parallel of what's going onin the Northern Kingdom and the
Southern Kingdom.
So that's why there's all thosekings names is Uzziah, jotham
(08:50):
Ahaz and Hezekiah.
They were in the SouthernKingdom and then Jeroboam was in
the Northern Kingdom, all right.
Verse two when the Lordremember, yahweh first began
speaking to Israel through Hosea.
He said to him go and marry a.
Now pause, can you imagineyou're praying one day minding
(09:21):
your own business?
The Lord is good.
His love endures forever.
Hey, hosea, yes, lord, I needyou to do me a favor.
Can you repeat that?
Jesus?
Of course he would repeat thatYahweh, and he asks him to go
marry a prostitute.
But notice that that's kind ofthe thesis of the whole book,
because he says this is going tobe an illustration of how
(09:44):
Israel has acted like aprostitute.
So here we go, verse 3.
So Hosea did it.
Hosea married Gomer, thedaughter of Dablim, and she
became pregnant and gave Hosea ason.
And then the Lord said Name thechild Jezreel, for I am about
to punish King Jehu's dynasty toavenge the murders he committed
(10:06):
at Jezreel.
In fact, I will bring an end toIsrael's independence.
I will break its militarypowers in the Jezreel Valley.
Soon, gomer will becomepregnant again and gave birth to
a daughter.
And the Lord said to Hosea Nameyour daughter Lo-Ruhamah.
Not loved, for I will no longershow love to the people of
(10:28):
Israel or forgive them, but Iwill show love to the people of
Judah.
I will free them from theirenemies, not with the weapons of
armies or horses andcharioteers, but with my power
as the Lord, their God.
After Gomer weaned Lo-Haramah,she became pregnant and gave
birth to a second son.
The Lord said Name him Lo-Ami,not my people, for Israel is not
(10:53):
my people and I am not theirGod.
Yet the time will come whenIsrael's people will be like the
sands of the seashore, too manyto count.
Then, at the place where theywere told you are not my people,
it will be said you arechildren of the living God.
Then the people of Judah andIsrael will unite together and
(11:13):
they will choose a leader forthemselves and they will return
from exile together.
What a day.
That will be the day of Jezreel, when God will again plant his
people in his land, and in thatday you will call your brothers
Ami, my people, and you willcall your sister Rahama the ones
I love.
(11:35):
Wow, what a beginning, right?
And so, to kind of sum up whatjust happened, god told Hosea
listen, I need you to do me afavor, I need you to go marry a
prostitute and then you're goingto have children with this
prostitute and unfortunately,you're going to have children
with this prostitute andunfortunately, you're going to
name them the different badthings that's going on in the
(11:56):
nation at the time, becauseIsrael has turned away from me.
And he said I'm going to blessJudah Remember, that's the
southern kingdom because they'redoing the right thing, but
Israel is not and it's going tobe bad.
But before it's over with, hesays I'm going to turn it all
around and those who don't havea people are going to have a
people, those who don't have aland are going to have a land.
(12:17):
And so that is the beginning ofwhat is going to be a very
interesting book, because asthey kind of grapple back and
forth Hosea and Gomer with theirrelationship.
God is going to say this isexactly what it looks like with
me.
But here's the thing I want usto catch as we continually go
through.
This is I want us to rememberthis that even though God is
(12:39):
telling them you're acting likea prostitute, at the same time
he's constantly calling themback to him.
He's constantly saying I'm notgiving up on you, I have a plan
for your life.
That's why we're calling theoverall idea of Hosea God's
reckless love.
And here's the big idea oftoday, here's the application
point.
That's the same thing that Godhas for us.
(13:00):
No matter what we do, no matterwhere we go, he's always
drawing us back to himself.
He's never going to give up onus.
He's never going to let go ofus himself.
He's never going to give up onus.
He's never going to let go ofus.
He's always going to draw usback to himself.
And even when we go throughdifficult seasons, god walks
through those with us.
And so I want to encourage youas we get ready to go through
the book of Hosea.
(13:21):
It's going to be fun becausewe're going to be like, okay, I
don't know what in the world isgoing to happen next.
It's going to be devastatingbecause Gomer I'm just going to
go ahead and spoiler alert she'sgoing to have a hard time
staying committed and faithfuland we're going to see a little
bit of how we act sometimes whenwe read through this and we're
going to get to see just thebroken heart of God as he is
(13:42):
prophesying through Hosea.
But, once again, the overallwonderful thing is is no matter
what happens and what goes on,in the end of it all, god never
gives up and he shows an amazing, reckless love for all of us.
Let's pray together right now,god, thank you so much for the
book of Hosea.
Thank you, god, that eventhough there's gonna be rough
(14:02):
moments and rough things, weknow that in the end it's all,
because you're always drawing usback to yourself and, lord, you
love us enough to be honestwith us and tell us Sometimes we
stray away from you, but at thesame time, you never stop
chasing after us.
Thank you, god, for loving usthe way you do.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen,amen.
(14:24):
Well, god's word says in Hosea6, verse 6,.
He says I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me more thanI want burnt offerings.
These are the words of Jesus inthe book of Matthew, where he's
saying I want a relationshipwith you and my hope is, as we
finish the book of Hosea, by thetime we get to the end, you
(14:45):
will realize God wants arelationship with you.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Hosea, chapter two.
Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Bible
Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, where it is
our goal to experience the Bibleone chapter at a time, and
today is Hosea, chapter 1.
Hosea, chapter 1.
And if I was to give this one atitle and the overall book of
Hosea a title, I would call itGod's Reckless Love, because it
(00:24):
is amazing to see what God'sWord is going to teach us about
the character of God and theoverall, just the way God loves
us and the way God has justreally put it on the line
because of how he cares for us.
It's a wonderful book of theBible to really see the heart of
God and just His reckless love.
We're going to get all that injust a moment.
(00:44):
So if you have your Bibles andwant to find it, open up with me
to Hosea, chapter one.
While you're doing that, asalways, of course, if you take
just a moment to like, share andsubscribe to the podcast, it
would really help us to get theword out there.
We are trying to create acommunity of people where we can
just go through God's Word onechapter at a time and just
continue to grow as we see God'slove through God's Word.
(01:08):
You can also go to the BibleBreakdown Discussion on Facebook
.
There's an amazing team ofpeople who are doing devotions
there every single day and, asalways, the more we dig the more
we find.
So, once again, if you haveyour Bibles, want to open up
with me to Hosea, chapter 1.
I want to give us a little bitof an overview beforehand on
what Hosea is really all about,because if we're not careful, we
(01:30):
will not really notice just howbeautiful this book is and how
it really kind of goes alongwith a lot of what goes on in
our world today.
And that is because you couldcall Hosea the soap opera of the
Old Testament, and what I meanby that is there's going to be a
lot of back and forth and a lotof almost scandalous kind of
(01:51):
stuff that happens, and it'sgoing to be a situation where
God is going to use thereal-life example of what Hosea
goes through to kind of show usa metaphor of what it looks like
between his relationship andthe relationship of Israel.
So let me give you somebackground information and then
we're going to dive into chapterone.
So, first of all, who wrote thebook of Hosea?
(02:13):
Well, a guy named Hosea did,and he was a prophet during the
time of the Old Testament,during the time of the kingdoms,
and we'll get into that in justa moment.
What we know about Hosea is hisdad's name was Beery and he
most likely was from maybe theprophet class of people who did
the prophesying school of theprophets and that sort of thing.
(02:35):
Ware is also very interesting,and that is, he was around
during a time of just spiritualdarkness for the northern
kingdom of Israel.
And so if you've ever readSamuel Kings Chronicles, that
time frame, you had a time whenyou had David, who is the king,
then you had Solomon, who isknown as one of the wisest men
(02:57):
to ever live.
But then, after Solomon, he hada son named Rehoboam, and
Rehoboam was not his father, hewas not a good king and because
of his bad leadership, thenation of Israel split into a
northern kingdom and a southernkingdom.
The northern kingdom, they werejust called Israel, and the
southern kingdom was calledJudah, and the northern kingdom
(03:18):
had ten tribes and the southernkingdom just had Judah and one
other tribe with them.
And the southern kingdom, theyhad some good kings and some bad
kings, but the northern kingdom, the one where Hosea lived,
they were pretty much all badall the time.
There were very few brightspots in the northern kingdom
and really the beginning ofHosea's ministry was under a guy
(03:40):
named Jeroboam, and he was areally bad one.
And so it's during this darktime where Hosea comes on the
scene and he is trying to showan example, through his life,
what this was like for God Now,to whom and when.
Once again, it was the northernkingdom of Israel, and it was
somewhere between 755 and 715 BC, so it's about 700 years before
(04:05):
Jesus.
And what is going on here isthis is, as Israel is getting
further and further into sin,God is continually trying to
call them back and call themback and through people like
Hosea, and he's telling them ifyou don't come back to me,
you're going to fall, becauseI'm the only one who can save
you.
And as the nation of Assyria isrising to power, god's trying
(04:26):
to warn them, but it doesn'twork, and so they eventually
fall in 722 BC.
And, as another kind of aside,hosea is the first of what's
called the minor prophets, andthe reason why they're called
the minor prophets is notbecause they were less important
than the major prophets, it'sjust they didn't have as much
writing 're called the minorprophets is not because they
were less important than themajor prophets.
It's just they didn't have asmuch writing.
(04:47):
So, like the major prophets arethe one you think about of
Isaiah, jeremiah, ezekiel andDaniel most likely is most
people's list is included thereas well.
So Hosea begins this list oflesser known prophets, and it's
only because of the amount ofwriting they did that they're
called minor.
And speaking of the majorprophets, the prophet Isaiah
(05:08):
would have been alive at thesame time as Hosea, but Isaiah
was in the southern kingdom, andso you kind of look at what's
going on, you can see that a lotof this stuff is happening
about the same time.
Now the overall big idea ofHosea is this book makes people
mad, and it's supposed to,because the overall idea is
(05:31):
God's people are spirituallyadulterous, but he remains
faithful.
Now I'm going to go ahead andtell you this because if you've
never read Hosea, it's going tobe so frustrating.
Hosea is told by God to marrythis prostitute named Gomer and
it doesn't go well and it justis just heartbreaking to see
(05:51):
what he is constantly having todo over and over again.
And that's where you see thatit is exactly what God is doing,
because how many of you haveever read the book of Judges and
just said, man, why can't thesepeople get it together?
They keep falling over and overagain.
Well, imagine from God's pointof view.
His people are falling over andover again, and that is what
(06:15):
we're going to see in this kindof living parable.
A couple of interesting thingsabout Hosea is it offers this
raw look at God's heart, but italso highlights God's covenant
faithfulness, even when we fall,and so it really shows just how
much God loves us, that evenwhen we fall, he comes back over
(06:36):
and over again.
Now let me give you a contextof what's going on in the rest
of the world, and then we'lldive in.
About this time, the AssyrianEmpire is rising to prominence
and they're eventually going toconquer the Northern Empire.
Now what's going to happen isAssyria is going to come to
power and then they're going tokind of be in charge for a while
.
But Babylon is going to berising to power as well, and
(06:58):
they're going to eventually takeover.
Now the rest of the story isthen the Persians take over
Babylon, the Greeks take overPersia, and then you have the
Romans, and so that's kind ofhow history is working in that
situation.
A couple more interesting factsabout Hosea is scholars believe
that this was actually aliteral event, that it wasn't
(07:18):
just a big parable, that Hoseareally did marry a prostitute
named Gomer.
The word return is one of themost repeated words in the
entire book and Jesus quotedfrom Hosea when he quoted Hosea
6-6 twice in the book of Matthew, showing its relevance in the
New Testament.
And I love the idea that,despite this very just, so
(07:43):
popper-esque kind of environmentthat's going on, and you're
going to hear this in the waythat God is talking to the
nation of Israel over and overagain, you're going to see how
it ends not with doom and gloom,but with the promise of healing
and renewal.
And so, if you're ready, we'regoing to jump into Hosea,
chapter one, we're going to readthis and we'll stop along the
way as necessary and just kindof give some context.
(08:05):
And this is going to be thebeginning where you're going to
hear this, and then it's goingto go from there.
So, if you're ready, you haveyour Bibles.
Hosea, chapter 1, verse 1, saysthis the Lord gave this message
to Hosea, son of Beeri, duringthe years, when Uzziah Jotham
Ahaz Now pause, now, first ofall, remember every time you see
(08:30):
capital L-O-R-D.
It's a respectful way forsaying Yahweh, and so it's
saying Yahweh, the king of kings, lord of lords, gave this
message to Hosea, and then whathe does is he is showing people
the parallel of what's going onin the Northern Kingdom and the
Southern Kingdom.
So that's why there's all thosekings names is Uzziah, jotham
(08:50):
Ahaz and Hezekiah.
They were in the SouthernKingdom and then Jeroboam was in
the Northern Kingdom, all right.
Verse two when the Lordremember, yahweh first began
speaking to Israel through Hosea.
He said to him go and marry a.
Now pause, can you imagineyou're praying one day minding
(09:21):
your own business?
The Lord is good.
His love endures forever.
Hey, hosea, yes, lord, I needyou to do me a favor.
Can you repeat that?
Jesus?
Of course he would repeat thatYahweh, and he asks him to go
marry a prostitute.
But notice that that's kind ofthe thesis of the whole book,
because he says this is going tobe an illustration of how
(09:44):
Israel has acted like aprostitute.
So here we go, verse 3.
So Hosea did it.
Hosea married Gomer, thedaughter of Dablim, and she
became pregnant and gave Hosea ason.
And then the Lord said Name thechild Jezreel, for I am about
to punish King Jehu's dynasty toavenge the murders he committed
(10:06):
at Jezreel.
In fact, I will bring an end toIsrael's independence.
I will break its militarypowers in the Jezreel Valley.
Soon, gomer will becomepregnant again and gave birth to
a daughter.
And the Lord said to Hosea Nameyour daughter Lo-Ruhamah.
Not loved, for I will no longershow love to the people of
(10:28):
Israel or forgive them, but Iwill show love to the people of
Judah.
I will free them from theirenemies, not with the weapons of
armies or horses andcharioteers, but with my power
as the Lord, their God.
After Gomer weaned Lo-Haramah,she became pregnant and gave
birth to a second son.
The Lord said Name him Lo-Ami,not my people, for Israel is not
(10:53):
my people and I am not theirGod.
Yet the time will come whenIsrael's people will be like the
sands of the seashore, too manyto count.
Then, at the place where theywere told you are not my people,
it will be said you arechildren of the living God.
Then the people of Judah andIsrael will unite together and
(11:13):
they will choose a leader forthemselves and they will return
from exile together.
What a day.
That will be the day of Jezreel, when God will again plant his
people in his land, and in thatday you will call your brothers
Ami, my people, and you willcall your sister Rahama the ones
I love.
(11:35):
Wow, what a beginning, right?
And so, to kind of sum up whatjust happened, god told Hosea
listen, I need you to do me afavor, I need you to go marry a
prostitute and then you're goingto have children with this
prostitute and unfortunately,you're going to have children
with this prostitute andunfortunately, you're going to
name them the different badthings that's going on in the
(11:56):
nation at the time, becauseIsrael has turned away from me.
And he said I'm going to blessJudah Remember, that's the
southern kingdom because they'redoing the right thing, but
Israel is not and it's going tobe bad.
But before it's over with, hesays I'm going to turn it all
around and those who don't havea people are going to have a
people, those who don't have aland are going to have a land.
(12:17):
And so that is the beginning ofwhat is going to be a very
interesting book, because asthey kind of grapple back and
forth Hosea and Gomer with theirrelationship.
God is going to say this isexactly what it looks like with
me.
But here's the thing I want usto catch as we continually go
through.
This is I want us to rememberthis that even though God is
(12:39):
telling them you're acting likea prostitute, at the same time
he's constantly calling themback to him.
He's constantly saying I'm notgiving up on you, I have a plan
for your life.
That's why we're calling theoverall idea of Hosea God's
reckless love.
And here's the big idea oftoday, here's the application
point.
That's the same thing that Godhas for us.
(13:00):
No matter what we do, no matterwhere we go, he's always
drawing us back to himself.
He's never going to give up onus.
He's never going to let go ofus himself.
He's never going to give up onus.
He's never going to let go ofus.
He's always going to draw usback to himself.
And even when we go throughdifficult seasons, god walks
through those with us.
And so I want to encourage youas we get ready to go through
the book of Hosea.
(13:21):
It's going to be fun becausewe're going to be like, okay, I
don't know what in the world isgoing to happen next.
It's going to be devastatingbecause Gomer I'm just going to
go ahead and spoiler alert she'sgoing to have a hard time
staying committed and faithfuland we're going to see a little
bit of how we act sometimes whenwe read through this and we're
going to get to see just thebroken heart of God as he is
(13:42):
prophesying through Hosea.
But, once again, the overallwonderful thing is is no matter
what happens and what goes on,in the end of it all, god never
gives up and he shows an amazing, reckless love for all of us.
Let's pray together right now,god, thank you so much for the
book of Hosea.
Thank you, god, that eventhough there's gonna be rough
(14:02):
moments and rough things, weknow that in the end it's all,
because you're always drawing usback to yourself and, lord, you
love us enough to be honestwith us and tell us Sometimes we
stray away from you, but at thesame time, you never stop
chasing after us.
Thank you, god, for loving usthe way you do.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen,amen.
(14:24):
Well, god's word says in Hosea6, verse 6,.
He says I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me more thanI want burnt offerings.
These are the words of Jesus inthe book of Matthew, where he's
saying I want a relationshipwith you and my hope is, as we
finish the book of Hosea, by thetime we get to the end, you
(14:45):
will realize God wants arelationship with you.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Hosea, chapter two.
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